From the Senate-Senate President Therese Murray

Massachusetts is experiencing the worst economic times we have seen in a generation. No person or program has escaped being affected by the sinking economy.

Therese Murray

Normal 0 false false false EN-US X-NONE X-NONE MicrosoftInternetExplorer4 Balancing the needs of residents with the fiscal realities of the Commonwealth Massachusetts is experiencing the worst economic times we have seen in a generation. No person or program has escaped being affected by the sinking economy. The Commonwealth is no exception. Since the Governor and House of Representatives drafted their respective budgets, our economy has lost $1.5 billion in revenue, and it continues to decline. The Senate recognized that basing our budget on the revenue number the House and Governor had used would be unrealistic. With that in mind, we began debating a budget proposal that reflected a $1.5 billion reduction through even more drastic cuts in programs and services. When the Senate budget was released, we were forced to eliminate 77 line items, making the nearly impossible decisions to leave very important safety net programs with little or no funding. During this week’s debate, the Senate worked to find a balance that meets the needs of citizens and allows us to live within our new fiscal reality. To that effort, we were able to restore cuts to many important services from which Cape residents benefit. These restorations include funding for a host of critical services. For our seniors, we restored funding to elder services including elder home care, councils on aging and Prescription Advantage program. For education, funding was restored to encourage universal pre-Kindergarten, and an increase in the per pupil allotment for special education students. Funding for mental health services for children and adults, homelessness and hunger relief programs was also included. The Senate also successfully restored funding for MassHealth dental services that if eliminated would mean no dental care for hundreds of Cape residents. To aid school districts that meet specific criteria, $3.5 million was put back into the Education Reserve Account. This is an account that several communities on Cape Cod have been able to successfully apply for to get an extra infusion of education dollars. In addition to restorations, the Senate, knowing that communities are being hit hard by the decline in revenue, gave cities and towns the tools they need to collect necessary revenues that will help them weather this storm. These tools, such as hotel and meals tax options, will give cities and towns the opportunity to restore important services. If communities choose to take advantage of these options, the revenue will stay within that individual city or town. We also gave cities and towns the ability to enact real reforms like a plan design for health care that compels municipalities to either keep their health plan below the GIC benchmark or join the GIC. We also provided incentives for the regionalization of services that will help smaller towns develop plans to share resources and save money. We are told by economic experts that it may take us several years to recover from this deep global recession. The Senate has worked to provide the most funding for the most programs and services that will benefit the most residents possible. Where we could not provide additional aid to communities, we have given localities the tools they need and have asked for to help fill some of the gap. There is no doubt that rough seas are ahead. However, through hard work, together we will weather this storm.

Never miss a story

Choose the plan that's right for you.
Digital access or digital and print delivery.